Translink lays out bus facility game plan

Hot on the heels of last week’s news that work is to begin on July 27, Translink has laid out its game plan for construction of Banbridge’s new Kenlis Street Ulsterbus facility.

Chief among its assurances to local residents, for whom a helpline has been set up, are that all works are planned for “sociable” hours, with measures to keep noise to a minimum, and existing bus-stop arrangements at Newry Street and Church Square will be retained during works.

The company said of the planned passenger facility: “The new facility will provide a more comfortable waiting environment for customers, making local bus services more attractive for the thousands of people travelling to work, schools, shops and other local amenities in the Banbridge area.

“ . . Banbridge is a busy commuter town and we are pleased to be starting this scheme to offer more attractive waiting facilities for our customers.

“Together with our range of great value tickets and free WiFi on board most of our Goldline coach Services we will encourage even more people to travel by bus and coach.”

Work on the facility - to include four new bus bays, covered bus stands with perch seating, a new ticket and information kiosk, a small passenger waiting facility and landscaping - is expected to be “substantially complete” by early next year, at which point the existing pay-and-display car-park on site will no longer be available to the public.

A spokesperson said: “All works are planned to take place during sociable hours and we will be making every effort to ensure that noise is kept to a minimum.

“We are also taking steps to advise the local community of these works and have set up a residents’ helpline with our contractor, BSG Engineering.

“Existing bus-stop arrangements at Newry Street and Church Square will be retained during these works. When the new facility is completed the current Newry Street facilities will be closed and bus bays will be returned for on-street parking facilities.”